NITI Aayog
NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission launches ATL App Development Module for school students nationwide
Aims at transforming school students from App users to innovative App Developers
In a major step towards revving up the Indian Mobile App Development innovation ecosystem,in line with the clarion call for Aatmanirbhar initiatives of the Hon Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission  today launched the ‘ATL App Development Module’ for school children all across the country.
The ATL App Development modules have been launched in collaboration with Indian homegrown startup Plezmo with an aim to hone the skills of school students and transforming them from App users to App makers in the times to come under AIM’s flagship Atal Tinkering Labs initiative.
Expressing his views on the said module, CEO NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant said that Covid-19 pandemic has brought about a big disruption, which is being tackled through the use of technology to aid for everyday lives.
“Our honorable Prime Minister has been encouraging the citizens to use technology and innovate for an #AatmaNirbhar Bharat. It is crucial for the young Indians to learn skills at a young age and to enable them to become the next generation of technology leaders. And under the Atal Tinkering Lab initiative, AIM, NITI Aayog is proud to launch the ATL App Development module for our India’s young minds – our dear children,” he said.
The ATL App Development module is an online course is completely Free. Through 6 project-based learning modules and online mentoring sessions, young innovators can learn to build mobile Apps in various Indian languages and showcase their talent. Additionally, to build capacities and acumen for App Development within school teachers, periodic Teacher Training sessions will be conducted on the AIM App Development course.
Speaking on the virtual launch of the module, Mission Director Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog R Ramanan said “we need world class technology solutions and apps from India leveraging the tremendous demographic dividend of our country. The launch of AatmaNirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge has been inspiring to the young students uniformly at school, university and industry level. AIM, NITI Aayog is now bringing the skills of App Development to the young tinkerers of Atal Tinkering Labs across the country so that they can integrate their Tinkering Lab innovations with mobile apps enhancing the usability and reach of their innovations. This would be one of the largest App learning and development initiatives at a school level in any country.
“To foster learning and creativity within young minds, as part of the ATL #TinkerfromHome campaign, AIM, NITI Aayog has created a growing state of the art platform for the students and teachers across the country to learn and apply the latest of technologies including Artificial Intelligence, Game Design and Development, 3D Design, Astronomy, Digital Creativity Skills, etc. from the comfort and safety of their homes,” he said.
He further added that as part of this ongoing effort, “AIM, NITI Aayog is proud to launch the ATL App Development module in collaboration with Plezmo, an Indian homegrown startup. I hope all children and teachers make use of this module, #MakeinIndia and become the future technology leaders and innovators of our country.”
Amol Palshikar, CEO, Plezmo said, “After agricultural and industrial revolutions, global economies are being shaped by a Technology revolution. Plezmo’s mission is to enable everyone to learn 21st Century technology skills like coding, computational thinking, design thinking and problem solving. This initiative will empower our young generation in making India a global technology superpower and contribute to the vision of #AatmaNirbharBharat.”
Till date, more than 5100 ATLs are established in more than 660 districts across the country by Atal Innovation Mission with more than 2 million students having access to the Tinkering Labs. The vision is to foster creativity and innovation nationwide through its various integrated initiatives including incubators, Startups, community innovation Centers and Atal New India challenges for product and service innovations enabling socio economic growth of the country .